1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to continuous, automated commercial cooking devices and particularly to such a device applicable to cooking meat products such as hamburgers or the like.
2. Brief Description of the Background Art
A number of cooking devices are known in the art which provide automated food item cooking through the use of a heating element and juxtapositioned belt conveyor. The belt conveyor is made up of a plurality of interlinked rods or links which together define a food item conveying surface. The rotation of the conveyor belt conveys the food items from an inlet to an outlet adjacent the heating element. Such devices have been successfully used in the toasting of buns and the like as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,611,913, 3,517,605, 3,589,274, and 3,520,249. U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,913 to McGinley, for example, discloses an adjustably positionable belt conveyor that defines an inclined food cooking passageway between itself and an adjacent cooking element. U.S. Pat. No. 3,520,249 to Miller discloses a toaster with a belt type conveyor that uses a protective sheet for covering the heating element.
Continuous cookers are also known to be useful in cooking meat products such as hamburgers. U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,452 to McGinley et al. discloses a hamburger broiler and grill with a belt conveyor that presses hamburgers against a first grill and conveys them past a spaced broiler, so that the hamburgers are both broiled and grilled. U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,341 to McGinley discloses a hamburger broiler with a pivotally mounted cover. U.S. Pat. No. 3,739,712 to Duning discloses still another apparatus of this general type useful for cooking hamburgers or the like.
While continuous cookers have considerable utility in the field of automated food item cooking, there is a continuing demand for still greater improvements in this area. Particularly the mechanical complexity of these devices has greatly increased the difficulty in maintaining their cleanliness. The various cooking elements and conveyors make access to the various parts extremely difficult so that cleaning is a very cumbersome task.